How I ended up having lunch today with a dozen FBI agents (almost!)

I haven’t mentioned how much fun I’m having volunteering as the publicity consultant for Aloha Community Library.  How our local 20 foot tall icon, Harvey the Giant Rabbit, will soon be getting his own super-sized Aloha library card for everyone to see.  And how I’m helping to launch a new speaker series so that the library can step forward as a lively meeting place for all of Aloha. It takes a variety of steps in the right direction to get things going  — But That’s Not What Happened today when I set out to join the Aloha Business Association, planning to meet with the group’s  president, after the luncheon, to chat about mutual goals.  I was a little surprised to find myself  in a room filled with about a dozen men — my age or so.  But where was the group’s head,  Karen?  Well, even if she hadn’t arrived yet, and all the men seemed locked in tight, chatty clusters, I knew what to do.  As one of the conversations unlocked, I introduced myself to a gentleman and explained why I’d come to the luncheon– Maybe Too Vaguely.  He explained that he was a retired FBI agent who’d moved out to Oregon the same year my son was born.   Michigan winters were brutal, he told me, and yes, he liked Aloha but didn’t know a thing about the Aloha Community Library.  We mingled comfortably while I waited for Karen to arrive.  Who’s Karen, he asked — and  introduced me to the group’s chief.  The Aloha Business Association? he repeated tentatively…   No, this is the monthly meeting for retired FBI agents. On my way out, I learned that Wednesday was FBI Day — the Business Association’s coming tomorrow.